What is SOCKS Proxy? How is SOCKS Proxy different from Proxy Server?

There are many types of proxies and protocols on the Internet, but none of them are as interesting as SOCKS, short for SOCKets.

In today's article, let TipsMake.com find out what a SOCKS proxy is and how it is different from a regular Proxy Server.

What is SOCKS proxy?

SOCKS proxies are commonly used by installing as a browser extension or configuring a torrent client to use a VPN service provider's proxy server.

SOCKS proxies work by redirecting traffic through the proxy server, then passing information to the intended destination. The SOCKS protocol achieves this by first establishing a TCP connection with the proxy server. Your computer can then send data to the proxy server and transfer data to the destination.

For example, suppose you want to access a website hosted in another country. The site blocks anyone from outside that country. To access this page, you can use a SOCKS proxy located in the country where it is hosted.

When you connect to the site through a proxy, the site will see the proxy server's IP address instead of yours. Because the server is in that country, the website sends its data proxy server, then the data is sent to you.

How is SOCKS proxy different from proxy server?

It seems that this article has just described how a normal proxy server works. You can see them on the Internet. Websites that provide free proxy servers to avoid blocking geographically or hiding your identity. They are called HTTP proxies because they use the HTTP protocol. So what is the difference between HTTP proxies and SOCKS proxies?

SOCKS Proxy works with more protocols

HTTP proxy server only works with HTTP protocol. However, SOCKS is not like that. It can work with many protocols, including HTTP.

In computer science terms, we call a SOCKS proxy a low-level proxy and HTTP proxy as a high-level proxy. These levels refer to the level of dedicated software. The higher the level, the more specialized the software.

Take examples of languages ​​around the world. If we look at the 'levels' that make up French, we can classify it like this:

Languages ​​on Earth> Languages ​​in Europe> French

In this case, the top level domain is French . It has a specialized category in Languages ​​on Earth . A person who specializes in French can only speak French. Similarly, HTTP proxies can only interact with the HTTP protocol.

Low-level proxies, on the other hand, have a wider application. The SOCKS protocol is like a person who understands all the European languages. It has no specialization and can handle more protocols, including HTTP. This is similar to someone who knows every language in Europe, including French. Therefore, SOCKS is the best option to handle other protocols like POP for email.

SOCKS Proxy can evade the firewall

Because SOCKS uses TCP to connect to the server, it does not have to traverse the same routes as HTTP traffic. Thus, if there is a firewall monitoring HTTP ports, SOCKS can evade this firewall, even if it uses HTTP. This is good for browsing restricted content without a firewall blocking websites.

HTTP proxy handles HTTP requests better

However, the specialized nature of HTTP proxy is not entirely a bad thing. HTTP proxies can handle incoming HTTP data better than SOCKS proxies. This is because the HTTP proxy specializes in a protocol, so it is equipped with more HTTP processing tools than the SOCKS proxy.